The most popular cookie recipe on this blog is, by far, my Soft Sour Cream Cut-Out Sugar Cookies. They are fun, festive, and oh-so-yummy. However, they are admittedly very time consuming to make. The mixing, rolling, cutting, baking, and decorating takes time. Although they're a family favorite, sometimes I just don't have time to do all that.

Enter these short-cut Sour Cream Sugar Cookie Bars. They have the same ingredients and taste of my cut-out cookies, but you can whip up a batch of these in a fraction of the time. They're easy peasy and every bit as delicious as the originals. Like cut-out cookies, these bars can be decorated with different frosting and sprinkles colors to fit any occasion. That makes them versatile and a great option when you need a quick yet special treat.

Nutritional Information (per bar, when cut into 24 bars): 186 calories, 6.3g fat, 3.8g sat fat, 22mg cholesterol, 119mg sodium, 34mg potassium, 30.7g carbs, 18.4g sugars, 2.2g protein; Weight Watchers SmartPoints: 9

Step-by-step photos for making
Sour Cream Sugar Cookie Bars

Step 1. Assemble the ingredients:

• sour cream
• butter (1 stick for the dough +2 tablespoons for the frosting)
• 1 egg (2 are pictured, but you only need one)
• vanilla
• flour 
• sugar
• salt
• baking soda
• powdered sugar
• evaporated milk

Step 2. Whisk flour, baking soda, & salt together & set it aside.

Step 3. With an electric mixer, cream the butter and sour cream at low speed; add the sugar, eggs, and vanilla & mix them until uniformly combined. It's okay if it's a little lumpy as long as no butter chunks are visible.

Step 4. Gradually add the flour mixture to the sour cream mixture, mixing until they're well combined. Expect the dough to be sticky. 

view on Amazon:  wire whisk,  my KitchenAid stand mixer

Step 5. Transfer the dough to a quarter baking sheet or 9x13 pan that is lined with parchment paper. Lightly spray your hands with cooking spray, and spread the dough to evenly cover the entire pan. Don't worry about finger marks--any that don't bake out will be covered by the frosting later. Bake until bars are set in the center. To maintain a soft, moist texture, do not overcook or allow them to brown. It should take approx. 18-20 minutes. Place baked bars on a cooling rack until they're completely cooled.

view on Amazon:  quarter baking sheet (9x13) with cover,  parchment paper sheets

Simple frosting & decorating. I frost these with a simple, tasty frosting and then add color with sprinkles. Nothing fancy--these are all about quick and easy.

Step 6. To make the frosting, combine the powdered sugar, vanilla, softened butter, and half of the evaporated milk in a large bowl.

• The powdered sugar really flies when you first start mixing it. You need the high walls of a larger bowl to keep the mess contained, even though the volume of frosting is relatively small.
• Why evaporated milk and not regular milk or cream? I used to use regular milk or cream, but I found that after a couple of days the frosting started looking speckled and uneven as it dried out. Evaporated milk results in a silky smooth frosting, and it holds up well and still looks good after the cookies have been frosted for a few days. This frosting is so good!

Step 7. Combine the ingredients on a low speed until it's a thick paste consistency and all of the lumps are gone. It's much easier to remove the lumps when the frosting is thick. That's why I only add half of the milk in the beginning. (I use a handheld electric mixer for the frosting; you can also mix it by hand with a wooden spoon.)

Step 8. Gradually add the remaining milk and continue mixing until the frosting is a smooth, silky, spreadable consistency. If it's still thicker than you want, add more milk 1/2 teaspoon at a time until it's how you like it.

• Optional: You can color the frosting, if you like. To keep it easy, I normally don't color the frosting and just rely on decorating sprinkles to add color. Up to you.

view on Amazon:  8-cup mixing/measuring bowl with lid (my go-to mixing bowl),  my Kitchenaid hand mixer

Step 9. Pour the frosting onto the baked, cooled bars and spread it evenly with a frosting spatula.

view on Amazon:  frosting spatula

Step 10. Add decorating sprinkles. This is where you can customize the cookie bars with whatever colors fit the occasion. Here are some color combinations to consider:

• green  - St. Patrick's Day
• green, red - Christmas or Cinco de Mayo
• blue - Chanukah
• red, blue - 4th of July or Memorial Day
• green, pink, purple, yellow - Easter
• red, pink, purple - Valentine's Day
• orange, black - Halloween
• orange, brown, yellow - Thanksgiving
• yellow, green, purple - Mardi Gras
• pink or blue - baby shower
• sports team colors
• school colors
• wedding colors
• party theme colors

view on Amazon:  decorating sprinkles

Try decorating 1 pan of bars 2 ways. This is an option if you'd like your cut bars to have more variety on the plate. It's easy to do. Choose 2 different kinds of sprinkles. Hold a stiff piece of paper or card stock in the center of the bars (see photo below) and shake on one kind of sprinkles on one side and a second kind on the other side. The paper barrier keeps the 2 sections free of the other sprinkles. Here are some I made for Easter:

view on Amazon:  Easter sprinkles

I made the double-decorated bars pictured below for Valentines Day. I added red cinnamon candies to half of them.

view on Amazon:  Valentine's sprinkles, red cinnamon candies

Decorate with multi-colored frosting squiggles. This is a fun, easy way to add color to your bars. It's a great default method if you don't have a variety of sprinkle colors. You simple add 2 different food colorings to small amounts of the frosting. Below, I'm using orange and yellow. Frost the bars all over with uncolored (white) frosting. Use a spoon to drizzle one of the colored frostings in an uneven pattern on top of the white frosting. Repeat with the second colored frosting. Add colored sugar or sprinkles, if desired. I added some clear sugar sprinkles below, just to add some sparkle to the colorful bars.

view on Amazon:  clear sugar sprinkles

For the Christmas bars below, I squiggled on red and green frosting and added some red, green and white nonpareil sprinkles. Fun and festive!

view on Amazon:  Christmas nonpareil sprinkles, more nonpareil sprinkles

Here are some bars I made for Mardi Gras by just adding green, yellow, and purple sprinkles on top of uncolored frosting.

I made these in a jiffy for the 4th of July.

view on Amazon:  red,white & blue nonpareil sprinkles

Cutting tip:  A bench scraper/chopper works great for straight, even cutting.

Storage tip: Cover the bars and store them at room temperature for up to 5 days. Although, the fresher the better.

view on Amazon:  scraper/chopper, quarter baking sheet (9x13) with lid

Freezing tip: You can freeze unfrosted bars for up to 1 month. Place a piece of parchment paper, waxed paper, or plastic wrap on top--this prevents ice crystals from forming on the bars. Then cover the pan with a lid or place the pan inside a large 2-gallon Ziploc bag. Remove the cover, thaw, and bring to room temperature before frosting.

These short-cut sugar cookie bars are such a yummy treat to customize for any occasion. 

Make it a Yummy day!

Monica

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Sour Cream Sugar Cookie Bars

By Monica              Servings: 24 bars

Ingredients

• FOR COOKIE DOUGH:
• 3 cups flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt (1/4 teaspoon if using salted butter)
• 1/2 cup sour cream, room temperature
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 egg, room temperature
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• FOR FROSTING:
• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 2 tablespoons butter, softened
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 3-4 tablespoons canned evaporated milk
• food coloring (optional)
• sprinkles (optional)

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line bottom of quarter size baking sheet or 9x13 pan with parchment paper; set aside.

MAKE COOKIE DOUGH:
In medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, & salt; set aside. In second large bowl, with an electric mixer, cream the sour cream and butter at low speed; add sugar, eggs, and vanilla & mix until combined. (It's okay if it's a little lumpy as long as no butter chunks are visible.) Gradually add flour mixture to sour cream mixture, mixing until well combined.

BAKE IT:
Transfer dough to baking sheet. Lightly spray your hands with cooking spray, and spread dough to evenly cover entire pan. Bake for 18-20 minutes, until set in center. To maintain a soft, moist texture, do not overcook or allow to brown. Place on cooling rack until completely cooled.

MAKE FROSTING:
Combine powdered sugar, softened butter, vanilla, and half of the evaporated milk in a large bowl. Use an electric mixer to combine ingredients on a low speed until it's a thick paste consistency and all of the lumps are gone. Gradually add milk, 1 tablespoon at a time, and continue mixing on medium speed until frosting is a smooth, silky, spreadable consistency. Add food coloring, if desired. Pour frosting onto cooled bars, and spread to evenly cover bars. While frosting is still wet, add decorative sugars or sprinkles, if desired. Allow frosting to firm up for 2-3 hours before covering bars.

FOR MULTI-COLORED FROSTING (a white base with 2 decorative colors):
Mix a batch of frosting as described above. Add 2 tablespoons of finished frosting to each of 2 small bowls. Add food coloring of your choice to color each of the 2 small bowls of frosting. (For example, one red and one green for Christmas.) Add more evaporated milk, if necessary, to achieve a drizzling consistency. Frost the bars with the remaining uncolored (white) frosting. Use a spoon to drizzle one of the colored frostings in an uneven pattern on top of the white frosting. Repeat with the second colored frosting. Add colored sugar or sprinkles, if desired.

STORE bars covered at room temperature for up to 5 days. Unfrosted bars may be wrapped well and frozen for up to 1 month.

A RAINBOW OF POSSIBILITIES! Customize the cookie bars with whatever sprinkle colors fit the occasion. Here are some color combinations to consider:
--green  - St. Patrick's Day
--green, red - Christmas or Cinco de Mayo
--blue - Chanukah
--red, white, blue - 4th of July or Memorial Day
--green, pink, purple, yellow - Easter
--red, pink, purple - Valentine's Day
--orange, black - Halloween
--orange, brown, yellow - Thanksgiving
--yellow, green, purple - Mardi Gras
--pink or blue - baby shower
--sports team colors
--school colors
--wedding colors
--party theme colors

NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION (per bar, when cut into 24 bars): 186 calories, 6.3g fat, 3.8g sat fat, 22mg cholesterol, 119mg sodium, 34mg potassium, 30.7g carbs, 18.4g sugars, 2.2g protein; Weight Watchers SmartPoints: 9

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